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Inflating Europe

Rising prices aren’t the same as growth.

Updated June 2, 2015 7:43 p.m. ET

The eurozone’s return to something resembling inflation might create the impression that the European Central Bank’s monetary maneuvers are working. Headline inflation rose to 0.3% year-on-year in May from zero in April, and so-called core inflation rose to 0.9% from 0.6%—higher than before, although well short of the ECB’s target of close-to-but-less-than 2%. These numbers need a few asterisks.

Cheerleaders for the ECB’s sovereign-bond-purchase program, or quantitative easing, point to some caveats suggesting the central...